Social Knowledge Networks Bridge the Divide

A SKN bridges the divide between the shared drive and the ECM system by providing tools that enable business users to maintain control over their content and achieve rapid time to value. As with traditional ECM systems, SKNs also collect and organize most data (documents, presentations, photos, videos, audio recordings, etc.). This information forms the basis of an organization's core knowledge base. A SKN is able to access that content wherever it exists: on the network drive, in the enterprise CMS, in SharePoint or in external, paid subscription databases.

But SKNs take it one step further by adding social tools such as blogs, wikis, online ratings, discussions and social tags to tap the collective wisdom of the entire corporate community. In doing so, SKNs enhance and inform the content. SKNs provide a way to unleash this wisdom so employees can share knowledge and update and enrich core content. This creates a dynamic, living knowledge base where employees can gain access to reliable information and enhance the value of the knowledge base.

SKNs can also complement mainstream enterprise content repositories, including SharePoint. With SKNs, organizations can enhance their SharePoint environment with an off-the-shelf solution suited to their KM and collaboration needs.

Phil Green is Chief Technology Office at Inmagic. Phil is responsible for the long-term technical and strategic direction of Inmagic's solutions. Prior to joining Inmagic in 1990 as president and CEO, Phil held a variety of management positions at Lotus Development Corporation, Communications Studies and Planning International, and was an independent consultant to Microsoft. Phil holds a Bachelor's degree in Economics from Harvard College and a Master's degree from Harvard Business School. He is a blogger at blog.inmagic.com. He can be e-mailed at phillip.green@inmagic.com.